Rehabilitating Narmada displaced not easy: Arjun

Indore, Apr 22: Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today described the report of the Narmada Valley Development Authority as different from reality.

''A lot needs to be done for total rehabilitation of the affected. Tribal population will be forced to wander if they were displaced under such circumstances,'' Mr Singh told reporters here.

He said he had come to exhort Congress workers to raise their voices for the rehabilitation of the displaced people.

''It is sad that Congress workers are mere spectators when Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar is raising her voice for proper rehabilitation of the displaced,'' he said.

On being asked that the then Deputy Chief Minister Jamuna Devi had been talking about banning the NBA during the erstwhile Congress regime, he refused to go into the change in the party's attitude.

He asserted that he supported the Sardar Sarovar Dam and raising its height was a matter for the Prime Minister and the Supreme Court. He wanted that the rehabilitation work be carried out honestly.

Mr Singh refused to comment on the team of three central ministers, who visited the affected area, submitting its report without discussing the matter with concerned officials.

Earlier, addressing Congress workers, he urged them to understand their responsibility towards poor people.

He asked them to listen to the problems of the affected.

UNI